Tea bag



O. JABLON TEA BAG May 7, 1940.

Filed April 3, 1939 INVI-ENTOR. 0404 M454 a/v, BY J;

ATTORNEY.

Patented May 7, 1940 UNITED STATES PATENNT. OFFICE TEA BAG I Olga Jablon, New York, N. Y.

Application Aprll3, 1939, Serial No. 265,676

in dispensing predetermined, convenient quantities of tea leaves or the like, ready for infusion.

Usually the bag containing tea leaves or the c like is held suspended in the liquid, as in a cup,

glass, or tea can, etc., by means of a thread or the like for the user to hold until the bag is withdrawn when the infusion has reached a desired strength. Then, however, the user finds himself at a loss as to where to deposit the dripping bag until finally he may place it on the saucer of his tea-cup where it remains unsightly and a nuisance. Or else the dripping bag is placed on some other dish, if available, causing similar inconveniences.

According to the invention these inconveniences are avoided by attaching to the free end of the holding thread a receiving element for the bag, as a means in which or upon which the soggy tea bag can be deposited immediately 'as and when it is withdrawn from the infusion.

According to one feature a flexible tie element connects the tea. bag proper with a dish-like element or drip pan of suitable orpaper-like material, or any stiff or semi-stiff material.

According to one feature the drip pan or the like serves as a protective shell portion in which the tea bag proper may be lodged and held when packaged.

tures of advantage, some of which, with the foregoing, will be set forth in the following description. In the following description and in the claims, parts will, be identified by specific names for convenience, but they are intended to be as generic in their application to similar parts as the art will permit. In the accompanying drawing there has been ill ustrated the best embodiment of the invention known to me, but such embodiment is to be regarded as typical only of many possible embodiments, and the invention is not to be limited thereto.

The novel features considered characteristic of my invention are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, both as to its organization and its method of operation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, will best be understood from the following description of a specific embodiment when read in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which;

Fig. 1 shows the article as an enveloped package with the tea bag proper lodged in the drip pan.

Fig. 2 shows the tea bag about to be immersed The invention possesses other objects and feafor infusion, with the attached drip pan serving as a holding tab. v

'Fig. 3' shows the dripping tea bag immediately after withdrawal from the infusion and about to be placed upon the drip pan.

Fig. 4 shows the soggy tea bag disposed of on the drip pan.

According to Fig. 1 the article is packaged in a transparent envelope Ill, showing a tea bag ll lodged in a dished element or drip pan l2, with a thread or string or flexible tie element l3 interconnecting the bag and the pan and slung around the bag and the pan.

After the envelope I0 is broken the pan I! may be grasped, and after removing or shaking the bag H from its sheltered position on the pan, the bag is dipped into a glass l4 containing liquid or hot water I5 for infusion, the users hand l6 holding the drip pan I2 (as shown in, Fig. 2). As the bag is withdrawn from the finished infusion, the users other hand I! grasps the thread IE to permit the drip pan H, which until then has served as a handle, to be held directly under the withdrawn bag to intercept drippage therefrom.

, Thus the soggy bag is placed on the pan-and disposed of (as indicated in Fig. 4) without the nuisance of drippage or drainage spreading on the table or elsewhere.

. When the article is packaged as shown in Fig. 1, it can be conveniently enclosed in an envelope without entanglement of the thread. That is to say the thread is used to hold the bag I l in place upon the drip pan l2. When the envelope is broken, the drip pan can be conveniently grasped without fumbling and the bag ll be shaken or pulled off the pan in preparation for the infusion.

When the article is packaged as shown in Fig. 1, it will be seen that the drip pan l2 constitutes a shell-like element for the bag ll lodged therein, which protects the contents of the bag, such as dried tea leaves, against being broken or crushed. I

I claim:

1. An article comprising in combination, a tea bag, a receiving element for said bag constituting a protective shell-like element therefor when the bag is lodged thereon, and a string-like element interconnecting said tea bag and said receiving element and adapted to be placed in a manner to hold said tea bag lodged in said receiving element.

2. An article comprising an infusion bag con-- taining tea, flexible means attached thereto for suspending said bag in a container holding the infusion liquid, and a receptacle attached to said flexible means and adapted to intercept and hold drippage from said bag and to bodily receive said bag after withdrawal thereof from the body of the infusion liquid, said receptacle further adapted to be deposited together with said bag and independently of said container.

3. An. article comprising an infusion bag containing tea, flexible means attached thereto for suspending said bag in a container holding the infusion liquid and a dish-shaped receptacle attached to said flexible means and adapted to intercept and hold drippage from said bag and also to bodily receive said bag after withdrawal thereof from the body of the infusion liquid, said dishshaped receptacle further adapted to be deposited together with said bag and independently of said container.

4. An article according to claim 3, in which the dish-shaped receptacle is of paper-like ma-.

terial conditioned to retain drainage from the bag.

5. An article comprising an infusion bag containing tea, flexible means attached thereto for suspending said bag in a container holding the paper-like material to retain drainage from the I bag, and has an aperture provided in the rim through which said flexible means is threaded.

7. An article comprising an infusion bag containing tea, adapted tobe suspended in a container holding the infusion liquid, characterized by the fact that areceptacle is connected with said bag, which is designed and adapted to support said bag and to receive and hold drainage therefrom after the bag has been withdrawn from the body of the infusion liquid, and further adapted to be deposited together with said bag and independently of said container.

OLGA JABLON. 

